The Hating Game: A Novel

by Sally Thorne

Debut author Sally Thorne bursts on the scene with a hilarious and sexy workplace comedy all about that thin, fine line between hate and love. Nemesis (n.) 1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome. 2) A person's undoing 3) Joshua Templeman Lucy Hutton has always been certain that the nice girl can get the corner office. She's charming and accommodating and prides herself on being loved by everyone at Bexley & Gamin. Everyone except for coldly efficient, impeccably attired, physically intimidating Joshua Templeman. And the feeling is mutual. Trapped in a shared office together forty (ok, fifty or sixty) hours a week, they've become entrenched in an addictive, ridiculous never-ending game of one-upmanship. There's the Staring Game. The Mirror Game. The HR Game. Lucy can't let Joshua beat her at anything-especially when a huge new promotion goes up for the taking. If Lucy wins this game, she'll be Joshua's boss. If she loses, she'll resign. So why is she suddenly having steamy dreams about Joshua, and dressing for work like she's got a hot date?
After a perfectly innocent elevator ride ends with an earth shattering kiss, Lucy starts to wonder whether she's got Joshua Templeman all wrong. Maybe Lucy Hutton doesn't hate Joshua Templeman. And maybe, he doesn't hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.

• ISBN10: 0062439596
• ISBN13: 9780062439598
• Publish Date: 9 August 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 14 April 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc
• Imprint: HarperCollins
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[Lynn]

The beginning had me thinking; what the hell am I reading? The toing and froing banter between Josh and Lucy made me feel dizzy. Yet, as I got further into the narrative and the protagonists become more known, everything seemed to gel together perfectly.

First of all, I was drawn to Josh like a moth to a flame. I have a weakness for flawed heroes and he oozes imperfections. To balance out his ruthless persona, there is Lucy who is both sweet and charming; the polar opposite of the man she shares an office space with. Somehow by trading insults and stares, they manage to build a tentative respect for each other before their facades drops to reveal the real people hidden under the pretence.

Overall, a highly addictive, can't put it down type of novel with a happy ending for an unlikely couple. Loved it!

[Kait ✨]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book. ♥︎ Let me count the ways:

1/ Surface level, it is a super fun rom com type of novel about two assistants to the co-CEOs who are nemeses. I love me some slow burn hate-to-love and Thorne really delivers. Like, these characters hate each other so much there are some strangling fantasies. I loved it.

2/ They work at a publishing company. (!!!) I love seeing my workplace represented in books, movies, TV, etc. even if they don’t get it quite right, but I think Thorne did a fairly accurate job of representing a publishing company and what I see as the two “types” in publishing (corporate vs. indie).

3/ There is way more to the plot than the romance. The book is also very much about Lucy’s journey of discovering what she really wants and what she’s capable of in life. She talks about the easiness and simultaneous difficulty of going home—of the loneliness and homesickness she feels having moved away from her family and her childhood home, but also of the sense of giving up she imagines she would feel if she had to go home. Home is easy but it is also a symptom of Lucy giving up on her dreams and her independence.

4/ Nobody is perfect in this novel, and mistakes are acknowledged. For example, there’s recognition by Josh that his behaviour towards Lucy requires an apology and an explanation and he gives that. But he also doesn’t beat it to death and there’s a comfortableness between them that makes the “make up” feel realistic and uncontrived.

I’ve read a few complaints about lack of setting which didn’t bother me; I imagined the city as something like Ottawa or Boston (probably because I didn’t know the author was Australian until after I’d read it). There are definitely tropes in this novel, but I feel it’s an example of how much these tropes can shine and why we love them—Thorne just nails the funny romance, here.

I just loved this—it’s a funny and pretty sexy romance but it also really made me feel a LOT unexpectedly about what’s it like to be a twenty-something woman today trying to make it in the world. All the love and stars for this book, and I will be running out to buy Thorne’s next book as soon as I can get it.

[Sam@WLABB]

From all the prior reviews I read, I expected this to be a super slapstick rom-com, but it really had a lot more depth than that. Initially, I was annoyed that we did not get Josh's perspective, but as the story played out, I realized that all the reveals about Josh were so much more impactful, because I had not been in his head. I found him to be the more interesting character, because he was not an open book. You had to work for everything you got from him, but it was worth it. Lucy was cute, quirky, and somewhat neurotic. I loved how Josh could "handle" her. The two together were sparks, fire, and heat. I loved the banter, and loved it even more when it moved into those sweet and tender moments.

[bumblingbookworm]

This review was originally posted on The Bumbling Bookworm

Published last year, this is Sally Thorne's debut novel.  I picked it up earlier this year and LOVED it, and decided to reread it this week when I was in the mood for a fun contemporary romance novel.  I wanted to listen to the audiobook and was disappointed to find that there doesn't appear to be one available on Amazon, so I picked up the paperback instead - I bought myself a copy because I loved it so much the first time around.  Once again, I flew through this and couldn't put it down!

This book is super funny, full of witty banter and characters that you just want to smack upside of the head and say "get on with it already!"  It's a hate-to-love with a bit of insta-love thrown in, but I couldn't bring myself to care about the obvious tropes here when it was done so well - I was there for it!  The romance was hot and I really came to care for the characters.  It was also great to read a book set in the publishing industry, although I'm sure it's not AT ALL realistic!  More Sally Thorne books please!  If possible, I loved this even more the second time around - 5 stars.
Check out the rest of my review here!

[girlinthepages]

It was a tortuous two month wait until my library hold of The Hating Game finally arrived. Yes, I had heard all the good things about it, but as a book blogger who has been burned by the hype monster one too many times before, I wanted to try this book out first before I committed to purchasing (especially since I've been underwhelmed by romances lately). I was thrilled to have my doubts proven very, very wrong in the best hate-to-love romance story I've ever read.

I first knew this book would capture my interest when I heard it was set in a publishing house. Lucy and Josh are both assistants to the co-CEOs of the company, as their companies recently merged together to avoid having to close down. Their animosity begins almost immediately upon their first day working together, and their dislike of each other blooms into almost an obsession, with each being heavily invested in interacting with the other each day (even if they don't want to admit it to themselves). Throw in a possible promotion for one of them at work and the tension rockets to sky-high levels as they both apply for the position.

I'll admit that initially Josh and Lucy's interactions felt like a bit much to me, and I was really wondering how the author was going to steer the narrative from true disdain to a believable romance. However, I think there's definitely something to be said about the thin line between love and hate, and the palpable animosity between them was perfectly transformed into chemistry and desire. Instead of feeling like the relationship was emotionally abusive with the love to hate trope (which is something that really turns me off to the sub genre to begin with) the narrative uses their mutual dislike in the beginning of the book to really mirror problems they have with each other and with their families, and as a reader I came to understand how these internal frustrations were then turned and evoked on each other, especially as they worked in an isolating environment with no one but each other every day. However, the other side to that same coin is that they grew to know so much about each other even when they viewed the other as their nemesis. It was honestly such an interesting and well done concept, and I loved the emotional depth that went into their relationship throughout the whole book as well as the extensive look into the family background of each character, something not often given in a stand alone, 300 or so page contemporary novel.

Though when I think about the actual timeline of the book I can see how the progression of their relationship seems a bit "insa-lovey," I think that the months of buildup that readers don't see makes it believable that their feelings were changed and expressed to each other in the a matter of a few weeks (maybe less? I honestly wasn't even paying that much attention to the number of days, it may have even been just a week). I loved the scenarios that truly showed how much they cared for each other beyond surface level reasons (such as when Josh took care of Lucy when she was so sick with an absolutely debilitating stomach bug. I've had my share of food poisoning/stomach flus and it definitely wears your body and soul down to its barest form. If someone stays with you through that then they are a REAL keeper).

The real bottom line of why I loved this book, however, is that it legitimately made me swoon. It made me excited to pick up again, it made me invested in the outcome of the characters' courtship, it kept me up reading way past my bedtime (only-got-four-hours-of-sleep-and-had-to-go-to-work-the-next-day past my bedtime). The chemistry was tanglible and believable, and I was rotting for BOTH parties involved, instead of just wanting Josh as a book boyfriend for myself and rolling my eyes at the female protagonist (I personally and deeply identified with Lucy in many ways due to the fact that we are both members of the extremely-petite-girl club). The animosity and snark was always balanced at just the right moment with vulnerability and sincerity and it's incredible to me that this was a debut novel because the author just GETS how to write two characters who go together.

Overall: I haven't read a romance that made me want to shove a book into everyone's hands since ACOMAF, but The Hating Game has me gushing and flailing and believing in the romance genre again. The dialogue is laugh out loud funny and Josh is the first addition to my book boyfriend list in a LONG time. Sally Thorne has already cemented herself as an auto-buy author for me, and I can't wait to see what sort of swoons she conjures up in her future novels!This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages

[Jyc]

☆ // (DNF) super agressive male, borderline stalker, and I can't stand forced kisses, especially when someone's trapped in an enclosed space like an elevator (even if she kissed him back). blergh.

[jamiereadthis]

So fun. There is a reason why fanfic tropes are so common and good. Sickfic, the fake date, enemies to friends to lovers. That’s all Shakespeare wrote, right?

[KitsuneBae]

Downright funny and witty.

[stacey_is_sassy]

The Power of the Book Buzz

Holy Shamoly!! This book was awesome. The hype really is deserved when it comes to The Hating Game. The characters, the storyline, the sizzling tension and the banter makes this one of the best books of 2016. I even did one of those giddy sit up straight, clap my hands and look around for someone to smile at, goofy faces. Come on, don’t deny it you do something similar...don't you? I finished it ran to my computer and now I’m trying to be smart and witty at nearly 11:00 pm. There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY I can even come close to doing this story justice.

So, all I’m going to say about it is this…Happy dances, hearts aflutter, a few chuckles, maybe a sniffle, is it getting hot in here, the heroine is quirky without being silly AND the hero is tall, good looking with dark hair. You guessed it - Hello Mr Gandy, welcome to your casting call.

Honestly, I went into reading this one completely blind and being led by my book world friends. It really worked for me. I can even admit that at first, I thought, bugger, their silly banter could get old. But soon, I was dying to know what Mr Gandy…I mean Joshua, is really thinking. Could they really hate each other this much? If they really hate each other, why would they step into the line of fire to save each other? Nope, I’m not going to say anymore.

Joshua is going onto my favourite book boyfriends shelve…right near the top. He does the brooding, dark and gloomy so well and yet he also does the sweet, completely bamboozled by love, just as well.

Considering this is Sally Thorne’s debut novel she has done an outstanding job. Let’s hope she’s got a backlog of books that she’s been waiting to get published. Fingers crossed.

Stacey is Sassy, received an advanced copy of this story. The copy provided is not the final copy and may be subject to edits and changes.

[kimbacaffeinate]

every once in awhile a romance comes along that is simply perfect with all the feels. The kind you will always remember. .brilly #caffeinatedtopten2016romance